The Boxing Standard

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman previews the super middleweight title fights which will be held this Saturday, November 27, between Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham, and Andre Ward and Sakio Bika.

In the last fight of the third stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KOs), originally from Yerevan, Armenia, and now fighting out of Berlin, Germany, and Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KOs) of Nottingham, United Kingdom, will fight for the vacant WBC super middleweight title at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland. Both have already earned spots in the semifinals of the Super Six, although the outcome of this fight will determine their seeding.

In a non-tournament fight but one where he has to defend his WBA super middleweight title, Andre Ward (22-0, 13 KOs) of Oakland, California, U.S., will fight Sakio Bika (28-4-2, 19 KOs) of Sydney, Australia, via Douala, Cameroon, at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Ward has also earned a berth in the Super Six semifinals, along with Glen Johnson.

In the U.S., Showtime will telecast the Froch-Abraham fight on same-day tape-delay along with a live telecast of the Ward-Bika fight, at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast). In the U.K., the Froch-Abraham fight will be on Primetime on pay-per-view, and also streamed live on http://www.primetimelive.co.uk/. It will also be shown on ARD in Germany, as well as in other countries.

We spoke with Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Andre Ward, and Sakio Bika on media teleconference calls to get their views on what to expect in their fights. We also discuss the coming conclusion of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, which remains the best thing in boxing today.

In addition, we address a number of major topics in boxing, including the stunning one-punch, second-round knockout by middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KOs) over Paul Williams (39-2, 27 KOs) in their rematch Saturday, November 20. That should make Sergio Martinez the leading candidate for fighter of the year for 2010.

We also discuss the lightweight title fight between champion Juan Manuel Marquez and challenger Michael Katsidis in Las Vegas, also on Saturday, November 27, which will be shown on HBO in the U.S. And we comment on a several controversies in boxing, including the David Haye-Audley Harrison non-fight and the role of gambling, the latest legal problems of Manny Pacquiao, and more.

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